Vince McMahon has retired from his position as Chairman and CEO of WWE. McMahon has been subject to an ongoing misconduct investigation after reports circulated regarding an affair with a former paralegal. This investigation resulted in Vince stepping away from his positions, with daughter Stephanie McMahon assuming his positions as interim Chairwoman and CEO. With Vince officially hanging up the corporate boots today, he announced that Stephanie would permanently take over for him as Chairwoman, while she will now share the Chief Executive Officer position with WWE President Nick Khan.
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“Our global audience can take comfort in knowing WWE will continue to entertain you with the same fervor, dedication, and passion as always. I am extremely confident in the continued success of WWE, and I leave our company in the capable hands of an extraordinary group of Superstars, employees, and executives – in particular, both Chairwoman and Co-CEO Stephanie McMahon and Co-CEO Nick Khan,” Vince wrote in his statement. “As the majority shareholder, I will continue to support WWE in any way I can. My personal thanks to our community and business partners, shareholders, and Board of Directors for their guidance and support through the years. Then. Now. Forever. Together.”
There is currently no word on whether Vince will stay in charge of WWE’s creative team.
Stephanie McMahon has been with WWE for all of her life, and has worked in executive positions within the company for decades.
“Until the conclusion of the investigation into recent allegations, I am honored to assume the role of interim Chairwoman and CEO,” Stephanie said in her initial statement. “I love WWE and all it continues to do to entertain billions around the world.”
Nick Khan has been with WWE for just under two years, as he joined the company in August 2020. Since then, Khan has rapidly risen up the ranks, often being viewed as Vince’s right-hand man.
“Nick is a seasoned media executive with a deep understanding of our business and a proven track record of generating significant value for sports and entertainment properties,” Vince has said of Nick in the past.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani last summer, Khan detailed many of his practices within WWE, specifically noting that he views the company as “open for business” when it comes to potential partnerships or buyers.
“When I say we’re open for business, that means if someone credible calls on anything – NFTs, trading cards, international rates, we take the call,” Khan said. “We’re inherently salespeople, meaning we’re not sort of like ‘no we don’t want to talk to this company’. If you pitch us something and you’re a credible company, we’re going to hear the pitch. We’re an entrepreneurial company that Vince [McMahon] and others have builtt over the last 35 years or so and we always want to stay fresh and entrepreneurial. In our minds, when I say ‘open for business’, if somebody credible calls asking ‘hey are you guys for sale?’, it’s ‘What’s your offer? What are you thinking?’”
In that same interview, Khan flirted with the idea of expanding WWE’s weekly duration of content.
“From my point of view, RAW would benefit from being four hours, so we would get paid more money and SmackDown would be eight hours,” Khan said. “But I understand that our creative folks, as amazing as they are, there is only so much great content they can do on a weekly basis. So, I’m good with the ‘three and two (hour) system.’”
Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for updates on this story. For a complete timeline of the ongoing Vince McMahon investigation, click here.
